A Test of Wills

The First Inspector Rutledge Mystery

In 1919 Ian Rutledge returns to his career at Scotland Yard after fighting in the war, still suffering from shell shock. His next case, with a war-ravaged ex-soldier as the witness, could spell disaster for him."It's 1919, and the 'War to End All Wars' has been won. But there is no peace for Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge, recently returned from the battlefields of France shell-shocked and tormented by the ever-present voice of the young Scot he had executed for refusing an order. Escaping into his work to save his sanity, Rutledge investigates the murder of a popular colonel in Warwickshire and his alleged killer, a decorated war hero and close friend of the Prince of Wales. The case is a political minefield, and its resolution could mean the end of Rutledge's career. Win or lose, the cost may be more than the damaged investigator can bear. For the one witness who can break the case open is, like Rutledge, a war-ravaged victim ... and his grim, shattered fate could well prove to be the haunted investigator's own."--Page 4 of cover.

Comment

Good mystery book about post WWI Britain. First in the series by Todd (actually a mother and son team of writers). Very convoluted and hard to figure out who done it? until the last few pages. There are many, many books in the Ian Rutledge series but it will be a long time before I read more.

Set just after WWI, this is the story of Ian Rutledge re-entering his job as detective with Scotland Yard, all the while struggling with PTSD in the form of Hamish MacLeod, a dead soldier still living in Rutledge's conscience and supplying acid comments from time to time. The mystery revolves around the death of Colonel Harris and the investigation proceeds very much like you would expect an English mystery to do. I found the ending a little hard to believe, based on how the characters had been presented earlier on. However, it was a tidy ending. If you want a quick easy read whose solution might not come to you before the middle of the book, then this could be for you.

This is a must read for anyone who is interested in the Rutledge series. We discover the background of the man, a WWII hero who is haunted by the official definition of cowardice in war time. His professional career is dogged by jealous colleagues who set him up for failure. Great insight into the struggle for men to get back to 'normal' after the horrors of war and still find the bad guy in the small English village.

Ian Rutledge has come home from World War I alive. And he has brought a friend. Or is he a foe? For inside Rutledge''s head lives the executed Hamish MacLeod who dogs his every step and questions his every move. This makes Inspector Rutledge''s return to work at Scotland Yard very difficult. The unfortuante thing is that once he and Hamish were friends until Rutledge had to execute Hamish on the battlefield. Sent out to investigate a complicated murder case by a suspicious and masochistic boss, Rutledge will have to use Hamish''s voice and his own detecting skills to solve the first case in the series by author Charles Todd.